Kids
AUTUMN 2013 GROW
SWEET PEAS FROM SEED PLANT
YOUR OWN HERB GARDEN PAINT
POTS FOR PLANTS MAKE
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POT POURRI
Paint it, Pimp it, Plant it, Autumn is a great time to plant flowers, herbs and veges in pots. Decorating your pot into a work of art will brighten up your garden – so go potty!
What you’ll need: • 2-litre Terracotta pots – they come in all shapes and sizes from any garden centre and are quite cheap. • Newspaper • Pencils, acrylic paints, decorations • Paintbrush • Glue • Plants • Potting mix • An apron
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Plants for autumn pots
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BASIL CALENDULA CARROTS CYCLAMEN DAFFODILS LETTUCE ONIONS PANSIES radish spring tulips violas
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Hint: Some words are backwards, diagonal - or both!
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First, wash your pot so it’s clean and leave it to dry completely. Cover your work surface with newspaper.
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Some ideas: • Paint stripes, dots, lines, shapes. • Make a funny face on your pot with silly eyes and big teeth. • Outline in pencil any pattern or picture you like. Max drew a flower then traced it with his glitter glue. • Glue anything on – pebbles, feathers, coloured sticks, insects – anything you like!
Bring out the designer in you!
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Paint your pot all over first and let it dry. Max used some old test pots that were stored in the garage. Then get creative!
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Finally, after your pots have been decorated and are dry, fill them with potting mix and start planting. Max decided to plant some lettuces and basil, but you might like to try flowers or spring bulbs.
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t Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, Harry Potter and his friends studied ‘herbology’ and learned how to grow the herbs they used in magic potions. Even if you’re not a wizard like Harry, growing your own herbs is magical and loads of fun. And with herbs you can perform miracles in the kitchen – they can make our food taste amazing! Herbs are the plants with the most powerful flavours and aromas (smells). They’re super-healthy too. You can grow your own tasty herbs in any sunny spot outdoors. Plant them in pots with potting mix, or in well-drained garden soil.
Choose a sheltered sunny spot. , Fill a collection of pots or one big container with potting ,
What is ‘well-drained’ soil? ‘Well-drained’ means that water must be able to soak through the soil leaving air spaces for roots to ‘breathe’. If your soil is wet and squelchy in winter, your herbs will grow faster in pots or in a raised bed that’s built above the ground where they won’t get too wet.
Handy herb hint You can grow most herbs from seed. Try growing them in empty toilet paper rolls. When the seeds have germinated you can plant the whole thing in the garden (the toilet roll will rot away and let the roots grow out into the soil).
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mix. Or, if planting in the garden soil: clear away any weeds and dig the soil until it’s loose and crumbly, like breadcrumbs. Mix in some compost using a garden fork.
Before planting, read the label to make sure you , give your herbs enough space to grow.
Carefully remove your plants from their little , nursery pots and plant them so that their roots are covered, but not the leaves.
Label your herbs so you know which are which. , Water gently and watch them grow! ,
Always plant mint in a pot, otherwise it wil invade the rest l of the garden!
Hey Pesto!!
Tasty herbs to plant now: 1
Make your own herb pesto Pesto is yum on pizza, stirred into pasta or used as a dip. It’s so easy to make!
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Here’s how:
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Whizz to a pulp in a food processor:
2 (tightly packed) cups of fresh herbs, such as basil, parsley, or rocket
¼ cup pinenuts or other nuts
1 clove of garlic, peeled
¼ cup grated parmesan cheese (optional)
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Drizzle in ½ cup olive oil as you continue whizzing, until you have a fine paste. Add salt and pepper to taste.
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Across 1. Grow lots of b_ _ _ _ and make your own pesto 3. Curly green p_ _ _ _ _ _ is a good breath freshener 5. C_ _ _ _ _ have a mild onion taste 6. M_ _ _ sauce, yum with roast lamb! 8. Pizza isn’t the same without o_ _ _ _ _ _ Down 2. A little bit of s_ _ _ is delicious with roast chicken 4. R_ _ _ _ _ _ _ is a strong smelling herb and an old- fashioned girls name 7. T_ _ _ _ has pretty pink flowers that attract bees
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garden is a feast for all our five senses; sight, sound, touch, taste - and smell! Roses, daffodils and sweet peas are just a few of the flowers we grow for perfume (find more in the puzzle over the page). Even the lawn has its own unforgettable smell. The leaves of lemon trees and herbs like thyme and mint release their lovely scents when you scrunch them in your fingers.
Sweet pea tee-pee A bunch of sweet peas is one of the sweetest, freshest scents of spring and summer. Plant some seed now and they’ll grow over winter to flower in spring. Sweet peas like it cool for germination. However, the seedlings are killed by frost, so if your winter is cold and frosty, wait until spring to sow seed (unless you have a greenhouse).
What you’ll need: • Sweet pea seeds
• A large pot (about 50cm diameter)
• Planting mix
• Six 1.8m tall bamboo stakes
• String
• Sheep pellets
• Slow-release fertiliser • Slug pellets
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Microwave Potpourri Pretty potpourri is easy to make from plants that grow in your garden. Pick herbs, hydrangeas, lavender, rose petals and any other brightly coloured flowers. Plants lose most of their perfume when dried, but this is easily fixed by adding a few drops of an essential oil. Essential oils are extracted from strongly scented plants, such as roses and lavender (ask for them at your chemist or natural health shop).
, Gather your ingredients on a dry day. , Lay petals in single layers between paper towels,
trying not to flatten them too much, and place them in the microwave. Do one type of flower at a time as some will take longer than others to dry.
, Microwave on high for thirty seconds, then check. , Keep microwaving and checking until your petals
are completely dry, but still coloured. Once you work out how long it takes is for each type of flower, you can microwave without checking. Usually, it takes a minute or two for rose petals. Lavender flowers take a bit longer.
, Mix them all together in a bowl and stir in a few drops of essential oil.
warm 1 2 Fill sheep pellets 3 4 Make the tee-pee: Place the pot in a
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the pot to about 3cm from the top with planting mix.
Add four handfuls of and mix it in.
Slide the bamboo stakes close into the sides of the container making sure they’re evenly spaced. Push them right to the bottom of the pot. Tie the tops together with string.
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Poke small holes (about 3cm deep) each side of each stake. Drop 2 seeds into each and cover lightly. Water gently with a watering can.
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Scatter slug pellets and slow-release fertiliser over the top.
HINTS: Soaking sweet pea seeds on wet paper towels ,
overnight before you plant them will help them germinate faster.
Sweet peas have a huge appetite for nutrients. , Mix in sheep pellets or slow release fertiliser
before planting. When your plants are growing strongly, feed them about once a week with liquid fertiliser. Top the soil with layer of , mulch (such as pea straw or bark) to keep the roots cool and moist. If you want to ,
grow food instead of flowers, peas or snow peas can be grown
As your seedlings grow use your fingers , to guide them onto your tee-pee.
from seed in pots too in just the same way as sweet peas.
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VEGES TO PLANT IN AUTUMN
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Find these plants in the wordfind – and plant some in pots
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Perfume for pots
Unscramble each of the clue words. Copy the letters in the numbered cells to other cells with the same number.
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